What started out as a weekend get-away for Jack and me has evolved into a book about Historic Florida Churches. After writing my first cookbook Easy Breezy Florida Cooking, I wanted to know more about the regional cooking in Florida and how it evolved. I had a passion for history and stated researching the history of cooking in Florida which led to my writing The Culinary History of Florida followed by Florida Sweets. The Florida Cracker Cookbook was a nice ending for my culinary adventures throughout the Sunshine State.
Jack and I enjoyed weekend get-aways in the state visiting museums, historic sites and state parks looking for culinary information and wanted to continue our weekend journeys. But without anything particular in mind and as we were driving along a less traveled road in the state, I saw a pretty little church on a hill (Just so you know, a hill in Florida could be 2 feet high- anything higher we might just call a mountain).
We wondered who built the church, and how old it was, and why in that location, and that began a new chapter in our lives - researching the history of Florida churches.
Here is an excerpt from Historic Florida Churches:
“Who built that church?” Driving along the rural roads of Florida you may have seen a tiny church steeple as you approach the once bustling main street of what you thought was a long-forgotten town. Slowing down to look, the beauty of the past comes alive and the story behind the founding of the town unfolds. This is the story of what my husband Jack and I discovered during our journey through the state. It all started with one little church sitting alongside a busy highway in rural Florida, The First Baptist Church of Citra in Marion County. That sparked a curiosity to know more about these beautiful old churches and thus began our two-year expedition searching the highways and byways along with the backroads, crossroads, and isolated dirt roads throughout the state for these treasured structures found in Florida. Churches such as the First Baptist Church of Citra, are scattered throughout the state of Florida and bring charm and spiritual guidance to both urban and suburban areas.
The town of Citra was settled in the early 1880’s and the First Baptist Church of Citra was built in 1893. A Victorian influence on this Carpenter Gothic style church gives it a unique look with its intricate details including rose windows set on either side of the square base of an octagonal belfry. But the town of Citra is also home to an even older church, the Citra Methodist Episcopal Church, or Citra United Methodist Church. Located a few blocks southwest of the Baptist church is a frame vernacular Meeting House built in 1881 through the efforts of a circuit riding preacher and a generous community. According to one source the original bell is still rung every Sunday.
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